Mechanical engineer Joe Szuba of Dearborn, Mich., was elated when his early-retirement package came through. A 35-year veteran of the Ford Motor Co. who supervised a rapid-tooling project at the company's scientific-research laboratory, he cleared out his desk on a Friday afternoon. Two days later he was at his new job--as a consultant for Koppy Corp., an automotive-equipment firm he had worked with during his Ford years--to help carry out a previously shelved Ford project. "It made sense to me," he says. Since "retiring," Szuba, now 61, has incorporated his own consulting company, gained two other clients and filed for five...
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